Bleed the Sun Dry
by luvthatvamp
Summary: After the death of their mother Bella and Jasper run away from home. Seven years later they are living happily when suddenly their friends begin to go missing. when one by one they start showing up dead they realize it just may be all their fault. BxE
1. Grey's My Favorite Color

**_A/n_ This is my first fanfiction in a couple of years, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it or not, but i like what I have so far so I probably will.**

**I'm not going to write a disclaimer on every chapter, if you think I own Twilight then there's something wrong with you, This is the disclaimer for the whole story: I do Not own Twilight or any of its characters, Stephenie Meyer does.**

**Enjoy the story.  
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I should not have come here by myself. This was a bad idea. I should have taken up my friends offer to stay at his apartment till my mum could come pick me up. I have a hard enough time being around my father's wife (I call her the Komodo Dragon) with my brother there. _He just had to get sick on a school day and now I'm stuck by myself with a drunken bipolar woman who's off her meds._

I had pulled out my keys when I got to the apartment door, praying she was in a good mood. I knew as soon as I stepped in the door my prayers had gone unanswered. I could hear her screaming at someone, probably over the phone. She took two seconds to turn her screaming in my direction, "Don't slam the fucking door!"

From the sounds of it, it was coming from the computer room. _Just great, I have homework I need to do on the computer and now I have to ask her if I can use it while she's in there. She's so going to freak out on me. OK. Deep breath. Just knock on the door and get in over with._

"Maureen?" I asked, trying not to choke on the cigarette smoke that filled the room. "Can I use the computer?"

As soon as she looked up at me I knew I was in for it.

"Get the fuck out of my room!" she screamed. _God her breath smells horrible. _The sent of alcohol cam flooding out of the rotting black hole that was her mouth. Being as fed up with her crap as I was I said something I probably shouldn't have.

"It's not your room."

"What did you just say?" she sneered and stood up. That probably would have been a good time to not say anything and just leave but I was tired of being a pacifist.

"It's not your room," I repeated.

"You little Bitch," she yelled, getting right in my face. "Like hell this isn't my room! This is my whole goddamn apartment!"

"It isn't your room and it's definitely not your apartment." Now I was just digging my own grave but I didn't care; she made me so mad. "You don't pay for this apartment; you don't pay for that computer, that food. You don't even pay for your cell phone. You don't have a job, you just bum everything off my father. You're pathetic."

Now here I stand, with an angry drunken woman standing in front of me. She's shorter than me, but at this moment she seems to be looming over me. _Crap._ She raises her hand as if the hit me and all I can think is _pleas do it. I would love to have a reason to call the cops on you._ Then she seemed to think better of it and dropped her hand to her side. She stepped closer to me and as much as I wanted to move away, but I didn't. _Its one of those territorial threat things, just like on the discovery channel. If I move away she'll charge. _I chuckled to myself and stood my ground, gagging on the smell of beer and cigarettes that wafted out of her mouth and across my face.

"Listen to me, you spoiled little princess," she sneered. _Spoiled? I have to work for everything I get unlike you,_ I thought, but said nothing. "Your big brother isn't here and neither is my husband, I could hit you so hard…You just stay out of my room and keep quiet," She turned and slammed the door in my face. Literally in my face, I had been standing in the door way so the closing door clipped me in the nose.

_Yeah I'll be quiet_, I thought as I grabbed my stuff up off the floor as noisily as I could. Then I left the apartment, slamming the door shut behind me. I could hear her screaming from the other side, but I left the building before she even got the door open. _Maybe I instigated her a little_, I shook my head, _she still flew off the handle though, even before I had said anything._

"What a dragon," I muttered to myself as I walked across the street. I kicked a pine cone down the side walk as I made my way to my friend's apartment, still unbelieving of what had happened. I mean Maureen's mentally and emotionally abusive, she always has been, towards my brother and I anyway, but that was the worst she's ever been. The only time I can think to compare that to happened back when I was nine years old and, even though that one was insane, it still didn't quite compare to what happened today. Funny though, that she freaked out over the same thing back then as she did today, what is it with her and letting other people use the computer to do homework? I think she was actually taking her meds back then though. We had been at her ex-husband's house for the better part of the day; my brother Jasper and I were bored out of our minds.

_"I can't wait to leave," Jasper said, talking quietly so that Dad wouldn't hear. "I hate it when he brings us over here." He shook his head and sighed deeply at the thought of being here for another two hours. There were a lot of people here, not just Maureen's ex-husband, Danny, but also their daughter Jessica and their son Tyler. They were just as bad as Maureen. Jessica was my age and already she talked about wanting to have sex with any cute guy that walked by her. Who would want her I would never know, she's not even that good looking. She was taller than me with crazy curly dark brown, almost black, hair that made her seem even taller. She also liked to tell all her friends, who were just as bad as her, about how she steals alcohol from her dad's "secret" stash. She was nine years old for goodness sake; I can't even imagine what she'll be like when she's sixteen if she's like this now. As for her brother Tyler, well he was a cutie, he was a year older and nothing at all like his sister. He was calm and quiet and he was one of the nicest people I've ever met, even at nine years old I could tell he was going to turn out to be gay._

_ "Me either Jazz," I whispered back, sitting down next to him on the steps of the back porch. "I can't stand it here, it's always so…I don't know I don't have words to describe it, it's just awful." We sat in silence after that, watching Jess do tricks on the trampoline, flipping around like an acrobat. Tyler was swimming in the pool and Dad was at the other end of the yard playing horse shoes with Danny._

_ After an hour of sitting and sulking with Jazz we all went inside the house for some lunch. Maybe he'll actually feed something good this time, I thought. No luck there though, I realized as I saw him pull out the peanut butter and jelly. I don't think he realizes that just because were kids doesn't mean we like peanut butter and jelly. I personally don't like jelly and Jazz doesn't like peanut butter. Jasper and I gave each other knowing looks as we sat at the table. You know the kind, the look that says, 'great, it's going to be one of THOSE days'._

_ We ate our gross sandwiches in silence, and then stood up to wash off our plates. We leaned against the island in the kitchen, waiting patiently for Dad and Maureen to be done eating so we could leave. Jazz and I had homework to do. _

_When they finished they washed off their plates and went to put their shoes on. We were going back to his apartment for a few hours before going home, which was good for Jazz cause he needed internet to do his homework and we don't have any at Mom's house. _

"_Don't forget to ask Daddy if you can use the computer when we get to his house. You know if you don't Maureen will be on it in a second and wont get off," I told Jazz while we waited._

"_Yeah, I know, I think I'll do that now," He replied, as they came back into the kitchen._

"_Hey Dad?"_

"_Yeah, Bud?" Dad answered, not really paying attention._

"_Can I use the computer to do homework when we get back to your place?" _

_Dad was about to answer him when Maureen butted in yelling at Jazz, telling him he couldn't use the computer and he yelled back telling her it wasn't her computer. That just made her more angry though. She got really close to him screaming and all Dad seemed able to do is look on in shock. I started shaking with fear, she was angry, what if she hurts him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back a few steps, starting to cry. Dad saw my tears and came out of his shock. He scooped us up with out even a word and took us out of the house with her screaming behind us. He practically threw us into the backseat and jumped into the drivers seat and was speeding down the road before we had a chance to put our seat belts on. _

That was the first time he promised us and Mom that he was going to divorce her, but of course he didn't. Now when ever he says that we just shake our heads and roll our eyes because we know it will never happen.

I laughed as I thought about how history had repeated itself, except this time it had been me she'd been screaming at, and I was sixteen not nine and definitely not helpless like I had been then. I rang the bell to Alice's apartment.

"Who is it?" Her bell like voice sang over the intercom.

"It's me Ali, can I come in?" I asked.

"Yeah, hang on, I just have to figure out what button to press." I laughed out loud, she had just moved into her apartment with her Mom and still didn't know how to let people in. Finally after five minutes of cursing from her, she found the right button and buzzed me in. She met me halfway down the hall. She was practically bouncing

"Bella, what happened? I thought you said you'd be fine staying over there, not that I'm not happy that you're here but I know you and I know that you much to stubborn to just leave there," She spoke a mile a minute. "Something bad happened didn't it? Worse than usually I mean cause it's usually bad so this must have been seriously intense…" I cut off her ramblings with a hug. Alice is my best friend and just seeing her tiny form with her short, black, spiky hair made me feel better.

Once back in her apartment I told her everything that happened and asked her if I could stay with her until my mom picked me up at four after she got out of work. It was no problem with her and her mom was okay with it too, so we went to her room to talk.

We had music blasting and were singing along to Pink's Just Like a Pill as we painted out nails obnoxiously bright colors when my phone rang. I picked it up carefully trying not to smudge my just painted nails and held it to my ear with my shoulder so I could finish painting my other hand.

"Hello?" I answered, it wasn't a number I recognized so I thought it might Subway, as I had just applied for a job there.

"Is this Isabella Swan?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Yes this is she," I replied politely, hoping to make a good impression.

"This is Dr. Sawyer calling from Elliot hospital."

Wait, Hospital?!?!?! My mind was reeling. What could they want with me?

"Um…Uh…Y-Yes?" My voice shook and I couldn't think what to say to that.

"I'm calling in regards to your mother Renee, she was brought into the emergency room about an hour ago, she's in critical condition. She woke up for a few moments and asked for you. It doesn't look good Ms. Swan, you should get her as soon as you can."

And with those few words my world came crashing down around me. How I got to the hospital I will never remember, it was all a blur. What I will never forget is that I got there just in time to watch my mother, my best friend, die.

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I shoved the door open and was running before the car even stopped. My heart was in my throat and I couldn't think. I could vaguely hear Alice and her mom yelling my name, but all I could concentrate on was the words running through my mind. _Elliot hospital…Renee…It doesn't look good…Get here soon. _My Mom, my beautiful, crazy, scatter brained, best friend was in the hospital. _She came in about an hour ago, her fingers, legs and nose broken. She's cut up real bad and she's been shot. Wouldn't tell us where she had been when she woke up, just kept asking for you and Jasper. She seemed desperate, yelling for you saying it was important, we ended up having to sedate her because she tried to get up to find you guys._ Dr. Sawyer's words came back to me as a sprinted across the parking lot, I nearly slammed into a nurse on her smoke break and ended up tripping trying not to hit her. I must have hit the ground hard because when I looked at my knees and hands later they were bleeding and cut up, but right at that moment I didn't care. I flung myself up off the ground and kept going, only slowing down for a second because the automatic doors didn't open soon enough. Then I was in the emergency room, I ran to the counter and asked the man at the desk where I could find Renee. I raced to her room, but just when I was about to go in a nurse stopped me.

"Only family members are allowed in here," She said, trying to block my way.

"I'm her daughter!" I yelled, as I shoved past her and into the room only to stop dead in my tracks. There was my mother, lying propped up on a white hospital bed in a white hospital room. The red of the blood pouring out of her clashed violently with the brilliant, clean white of the room. Three doctors and various nurses were working frantically to save her, but I knew, as soon as I saw the cuts and gashes all over her, as soon as I looked into her half closed eyes, I knew she wouldn't make it. Someone put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze, probably to reassure me, but I barely felt it.

"Why?" I whispered to myself. "Who could do this to her?" Tears were streaming down my face, but I wouldn't allow myself to sob. I stood tall and stiff as I watched my mother slowly slip away from me forever.

"Bells," a choked voice sounded from behind me. I didn't look back, I didn't have to, I knew it was Jazz. I held out my hand and he grasped it in his. It was a small comfort, but it was a comfort none the less. Suddenly my mother's eyes snapped open wide. She quickly scanned the room, stopping when her eyes fell upon us. Pushing nurses and doctors away from us she struggled to sit up more. When she was where she wanted to be she began speaking, it was too low for us to hear, so we scooted as close to her as we could, straining our ears to hear her.

"Run," she wheezed out. "Get…away from here…quickly…you must…leave…they will…they are…coming…please run…stay safe…for me. I...love…you…" Then she fell back to the bed coughing violently, blood running down her chin. The doctors shoved us out of the way trying desperately one last time to keep our mother alive. Her eyes settled on us and she reached her hand towards us. We were about to move towards her when the light went out of her eyes and her hand dropped. The beeping of the heart monitor became an endless sound and she was gone.

I turned into Jasper, who wrapped his arms around me, pressing me to his chest and I finally let myself really cry. I sobbed and my legs gave out under me. Jasper and I slid to the floor, holding on to each other.

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**A/N Let me know what you think**


	2. Reach Up For The Sunrise

**A/N** _ Hey guys! sorry it's been so long since the first chapter, I've had a crazy busy summer between work and trying to get all my stuff for college together, but I'm sure you don't really want to hear about that! lol anyway as for this chapter it is set at a much later time in Bella and Jasper's life, they're twenty three and twenty four now. Last chapter was more of a prologue than a chapter. I promise you'll find out what happened in their past eventually! Other than that I have nothing to say so...enjoy!_

**Reach Up For The Sunshine**

"Becket!"

My eyes fluttered open as I slowly woke from my dreamless sleep. I looked over at the alarm clock sitting on the desk beside my bed. It was three a.m., later than I intended to sleep in, I had to be at work for four thirty. I rolled over and stretched, cracking my back all the way up. I really should see a chiropractor, I thought to myself as I threw my covers off and sat up. I curled my toes into my feet as I stood up on the cold hardwood floor, I definitely need to start wearing socks to bed. I had grabbed some clothes and was about to jump in the shower when someone started banging on my bedroom door.

"Becket! Becket, Becket, Becket!" it was Jasper. What the hell is he doing up so early? Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair and went to open the door.

"What do you want Jasper and what are you up so early you freak?" I said. "You know most sane people don't get up at three in the morning if they don't have to right?"

"Now is that anyway to talk to your big brother whom you love so much?" he laughed as he stepped through the doorway and sat on the bed. "God, you keep your room so clean, if it weren't for the messed up sheets on your bed I'd think no one lived in this room." he said, pulling at the sheets next to him.

"What do you want?" I asked again, getting a little impatient, it was too early for this crap.

"Hey, give a guy some credit sis. I just wanted to say good luck today, your working an earlier flight than usual. Also I wanted to tell you I really like the name you've picked out this week. I think this one's a keeper. Though, honestly, I don't see what's wrong with your real name Bells."

"You know what my problem is with that name, Jasper. So you can take your opinions and shoe them up your..."

"Hey, hey, hey," he interrupted. "Whoa now baby sis you know I was just playing. What's up with you? You've been really high strung lately."

"I'm sorry, Jazz. Your right, I...I guess I'm just tired is all. Thank you for wishing me luck, I think I'm going to need it, the passengers are always crankier on these early morning flights. Sometimes I wish I were in the cockpit again and not stuck talking with and waiting on passengers." I sighed.

"Just give yourself some time, Ket," he said, using my newest name. I had gone through a lot of names, Julie, Bethany, Megan, and Chantal to name a few, but I think Jasper is right about this one, I think I'll keep it. "It's going to take a while to get over that accident. I mean crashing a plane isn't like falling off a horse, you can't just jump right back into it two seconds later."

"Why not!" I practically yelled. "Sorry, I just...I'm so sick and tired of being terrified of the cockpit. I mean, I have no problem riding on planes, as proved by my job as a flight attendant, but when I get in the cockpit it's a whole other story."

"I know your frustrated and it kills me to see you like this, but I don't know how to help you. I mean dealing with everything we went through as kids was different. I went through it with you so I knew what to say, what to do, to make it okay, but I know nothing about this and I can't take away your pain. I can't fix this one," his eyebrows furrowed in sadness.

"Jasper," I whispered, as I knelt in front of him, taking his hands into my own. "I don't expect you to fix this. You don't always have to make everything okay, you're not superman. You're my big brother, not my savior. You've already saved me enough. Plus, just having you here, supporting me makes it better. I'm sorry I let my frustration get the best of me, I know I just need to give it time," I smiled at him and stood up. He stood up with me and gave me a long hug.

"Now get your ass out of my room, I need to get ready for work," he grabbed a pillow and chucked it at me, then laughed when I fell over trying to avoid it. Then, proceeded to walk out the door without helping me up.

"Bothers," I muttered under my breath as I got up off the flood. I snagged my uniform off the bed where I had set it and headed into the bathroom to take my shower.

Even with Jasper talking to me I managed to get of the house by three thirty. It took an hour to get to work from my house so I was really grateful that I'm not one of those girls that fusses with hair and makeup. I jumped in the taxi and told the driver I'd pay him extra if he could get me there fast. I liked being to work early, it gave me time to prepare for dealing with crazy people all day.

On the ride to work I had time to think about what Jasper had said to me earlier. How he'd called me by my real name and mentioned our past. He must have had a bad night, because we hadn't spoken of either in months, not since we got the phone call saying dad had been arrested. Thinking of this made my mind wander into the past, to the reason I keep changing my name.

_"What the hell Charlie!" Maureen's voice woke me from my sleep. At first I was confused, why am I at Dad's house? What's going on? But then I remembered and it was like getting hit in the face with a freight train going 180 miles an hour. I was here because Mom was dead._

_"What do you want me to do Maureen?" Dad yelled back. "I can't just dump them on the side of the street. What do you want me to say, 'Sorry your Mom's dead, tough break, but I don't want you so off you go. Hope you have a nice life'?"_

_I crawled out of bed and headed to the kitchen where their voices were coming from._

_"That would be a start!" she screamed now. "For Christ's sake Charlie, they're not even your kids! You and that...that Woman.."_

_"Would you shut up!" Dad whisper yelled at her. "They don't know that and I don't need them finding.."_

_"What do you mean we're not yours?" I whispered. Dad's head whipped up and his eyes opened wide as he saw me standing there leaning up against the wall in my pajamas, arms crossed._

_"Bella, I didn't...I mean you're...I.."He tripped over his words. _

_"Oh, just spit it out you bumbling fool! You're not his kid and you're not your mother's either! You were adopted. Your real parents didn't want you and neither do we!" She laughed, then walked away to her room._

_I looked up at my father with questioning eyes, "Is this true?"_

_"Yes Bella, your mom and I adopted you, but you and your brother were too young to remember," I felt Jazz come to stand beside me, their yelling must have woken him too. "But I did want you..I do want you, I was even the one to pick out your name, Bells! Your mom chose Jasper's," he looked up at Jasper now with pleading eyes, as if begging him to understand._

_"But?" Jasper pressed him to keep going._

_"But I just don't have the money to take care of you guys, I just I don't...I can't..I'm so sorry!" he covered his face with his hands in what I suspected was pretend shame. He didn't want us, he just didn't know how to tell us. I heard him talking earlier, I heard every word he said._

_"Sure Charlie, whatever, we'll just leave then so you don't have to deal with the burden of taking care of two kids that aren't yours," I made air quotes as I said 'aren't yours'. Jasper and I then headed to the spare room that we had been sleeping in. I shoved all my belongings into my suit case, as did Jasper, then we picked up our bags and walked out the door. _

_Charlie had the audacity to follow us, begging and pleading for us to understand. As I stepped onto the bus after Jasper I turned around and look right into his eyes and whispered with all the anger and hate I had in me, "I will NEVER forgive you!" then I turned away and the doors closed._

"We're here miss," the cab driver said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shook my head, trying to clear it a little more, then handed him the cash and walked into the Manchester Airport.

Not even two seconds after I walked through the door I heard the click-clack of heals running at me. I groaned to myself, thinking that just once I'd like to make it up the stairs before being attacked by my co-worker, Cindy. I don't know how she's done it, but she's managed to work on every flight I have been assigned to for the past four months. I mean the girl is sweet as hell sure, but she is so incredibly annoying, all she does is talk, talk, talk. Sometimes I just want to sew her mouth shut.

"Chantal!" she said, when she caught up. "I brought you a coffee, french vanilla extra extra, just the way you like it!"

"Wow, Cindy, thank you, I definitely need it this morning," I said, taking a sip from the coffee. The feeling of the warm liquid sliding down my throat relaxed my whole body and woke me up a little, immediately putting me in a better mood. "Oh, it's Becket now," I told her, smiling.

"Ooo! I love that name! It's not very common is it? One of those names that you'll probably go your whole life without meeting another Becket. Becket. I just love the sound of it and I love how well it fits you! Now that I've heard it I look at you and your whole being just screams Becket. It's such a pretty name, almost as pretty as you are!" she grinned. The fact that she got such a kick out me changing my name every other month was funny to me. Every time I picked out a new name she would gush about how she loved it even more than the last.

"You said the same thing when I switched from Megan to Chantal," I laughed.

"Yeah, I know, but Becket's just so much more...you know?"she said excitedly and I couldn't help but laugh at her. She really was a great person to be around, but only in small doses. Being with her all day long on a six hour flight was grueling, her peppy attitude and need to talk got tiring after the first hour or so.

"Yeah, I know," I smiled. "I think I'm going to keep this one, get my name changed legally. Even Jasper likes this one. He came up with a nickname for me already, usually it takes him a week or so."

"Really? That's so cute! I love how you and your brother get along. Sometimes I see you two together and I wish I had a big brother like him. Instead I get Lindsay, the little sister from mars," She rolled her eyes when she mentioned her sister and I couldn't help but giggle. I had met her sister once or twice before and she was an odd one to put it nicely.

"Ket," I said. "and Lindsay thinks she's from mars? I thought she was completely positive she was from so far far away galaxy."

"Ket? That is so creative, I would have probably come up with something mundane like becky, but Ket, that's so original! Can I call you Ket? As for Lindsay, she's like you, but instead of changing her name she changes her planet of origin and talks about how someday her alien family will come beam her up."

"Beam me up, Scotty." I said, and we both burst out in laughter as we walked onto the plane to get everything ready for the flight.


	3. Swing Life Away

A/N Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, this is my first year in college and all the homework has been overwhelming. Anyway here's the next chapter, hope you love it! And I apologize for the sudden ending of the chapter, but hey cliff hangers keep you coming back right?

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**Cindy**

I walked up the short pathway to the front door of my brother and mine's house. I held my heals in one hand, not caring that the concrete path was tearing holes in my tights. It had been a long day, my feet killed and all I wanted to do was hop into bed. In the other hand I held my keys.

"Fucking feet," I grumbled as I tripped up the steps to the door. I pulled myself up off the ground and stuck the key in the lock and wiggled it a little to get it to click open. I pushed the door open and reached around for the light switch. Hmm…that's odd, Jasper usually leaves the lights on for me. Maybe he's working late at his shop. Jasper had opened his own mechanics shop with his best friend Edward and Edward's twin brother Emmett. They actually got really good business, so much so that they're thinking of opening another shop.

"Ugh!" I groaned and gave up fumbling for the light. I decided on carefully making my way through the dark. I dropped my shoes by the now closed door so as to free up my hands for catching myself if I fell. I placed my right hand on the wall beside me and kept my left out in front of me to keep from walking into anything. Letting my eyes adjust to the dark as much as I could, I began my slow shuffle forward, not picking up my feet in case I stepped on something. It took five minutes to make it down the hallway and that was the easy part. Our house is an open concept house which means, with the exception of bathrooms and bedrooms, the house has no inside walls. You can see from one end all the way to the other. The hall extended halfway into the house, on the right side there was a closet and a bathroom. On the left a sort of doorway formed between the wall and the chimney that led to the kitchen. The railings going around the metal spiral staircase on the right and the chimney and wood stove on the left extended the hall a little, but they weren't solid walls to lead yourself by. So I decided the best course of action was to crawl on my hands and knees, brushing the wood railings with my shoulder. I knew there was nothing on that side to hurt myself on. Unfortunately, I was now stuck out in open space. Heading left was the living room and to the right was the computer area, stairs and spare bedroom. Left was definitely the better choice: no chance of falling down a stairwell into a cement floor basement. I started to move cautiously forward, aware that the couch and love seat were somewhere close. Even moving as carefully as I was I still managed to crawl head first into the love seat. Muttering obscenities and rubbing my head I put my hand on top of the couch and pulled myself up.

"Surprise!" a dozen different voices yelled at me as the lights flashed on. I pulled my head back and closed my eyes for a few seconds, overwhelmed by the sudden brightness and loud voices. Why was I being yelled at? What are they even yelling? Finally, I could open my eyes and when I did I saw all my friends beaming at me. There were streamers on the wall and balloons and glitter covered everything. A large sign was strung up in front of the bi-folding atrium doors leading to the green house. It read 'Happy Birthday' and I finally got it, it was my birthday today. How the hell did I forget that? I looked around to see who was here, Rosalie, my former co-pilot and close friend from when I was in the air force. Cindy and her little sister Lindsay, Jasper of course, and his girlfriend Jadine, Emmett with his, well, she wasn't his girlfriend, more like friends with lots of benefits, Kate. Gorgeous Edward, God that man is delicious. Also, last but not least, Alice.

"Alice?" I practically squealed. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years! Not since I left."

"You mean ran away and left me behind?" She growled, looking so angry I was afraid she'd kill me right where I stood. "No worries. I forgive you," she giggled. "Bella! Oops sorry, jazzy did tell me it was Becket now I'm just so excited to see you I forgot." She ran up to me and hugged me so tight I could hardly breathe. I squeezed her back just as hard. I really couldn't believe my eyes my best friend was standing here hugging me after all these years. I looked over at jazz for conformation that this was really happening and he grinned, mouthing 'your welcome' at me. It had been far too many years since I'd seen her and that was my fault. I though back to the fun we had had, listening to music, painting out nails, talking about boys. Though back then she had been in love with my brother and, him being a teenage boy, was completely oblivious. It had made boy talk a little strange, but I had learned to live with it.

"Alice, I've missed you so much!" I said into her ear.

"I've missed you too B. More than you can imagine," she replied, then let go of me. "Happy birthday, hunny."

"Thanks, Alice," I grinned. "Thank you all," I said, looking around at them. After I had hugged everyone, the scrumptious Edward included, I looked around at all the food. It all looked so good, but right now, at this very moment, all I wanted was cake. "So what's say we ditch the dinner and jump straight to the desert?"

"Thank God!" cried Emmett. "Finally someone says something sensible! If you weren't like my little sister I'd totally kiss you right now, Ket." Jazz gave him an evil eye and I glanced uneasily at Kate, who just laughed. "Okay, Okay. Don't get your knickers in a twist, I was joking Jasper. Geeze can we please eat cake now? It's ice cream cake and it's calling my name!" he rubbed his hands together and looked longingly at the cake.

"Knickers? What are you? British?" Jazz said at the same times as I said, "All food call's your name Em."

Laughing, I reached to a knife to cut the cake.

"Ow." I hissed in pain , pulling my hand back towards me. I cut my fingers on the blade of the knife. It wasn't too deep, but it was bleeding a lot none the less. "Damn it," I said, holding my hand against my chest.

"Jesus, Becket!" Jasper gasped. "I'll go get the med kit." He ran to the bathroom to grab the med kit, kept mostly because of my inability to keep myself from getting hurt.

"Ket! Oh man," Edward said, running up to me. "Let me see your hand." Gently as he could he took my hand into his and turned it over to look at it. Slowly he rolled my fingers back to see the cut. "Hand me so gauze." He told Jazz as he came back into the room. He took the gauze and carefully whipped away as much of the blood as he could so as to see the cut better. "That's not so bad, it'll need a few band aids, but no stitches so no hospital trip for you toniht." I looked up at him and smiled, after the initial sting of the knife cutting me it didn't hurt all that bad. Of course it helped that all I could think about is the fact that Edward was toughing me. Looking at his beautiful green eyes and mussed hair, it was no wonder I barely felt the pain in my fingers. He finished bandaging me up and smiled at me.

"I got blood on your shirt," I said, frowning a little, there was actually quite a bit of blood on his shirt. I felt bad

"No worries," he said. "I do own more than one shirt."

"Let me get you one of mine to wear for now, though," Jasper said. "If you walk down the stree looking like that people will think you killed someone."

"Thanks man."

"No problem." Jasper went and grabbed a clean shirt for Edward.

"Right. So, how about that cake?" I asked. Now that my minor catastrophy was over my stomache was grumbling like crazy.

"Sure, but how about you let me cut the cake, sis?" Jasper said, picking up a clean knife. Everyone laughed and after that everything went off with out a hitch.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Ugh! That horrible sound. I swear to God when I get old and retire I'm going to throw an alarm clock killing party. I hate the sound of the things, it sucks major balls having to need one. I've tried several kinds of them too, ones that sing, ones that beep, even ones that make little farm animal sounds like piggy oinks and stuff, cute right? Well it's only cute until it wakes you up at our in the morning, then its just obnoxious. You buy it and it's like oink, oink, oink, love me. Then you use it and it's OINK! OINK! OINK! Wake up you lazy ass! OINK! OINK! OINK! You may be laughing, but its seriously traumatizing! I ripped that one out of the wall and hid it under all the crap in the bottom of my closet. Sometimes, when it's real quiet, I can still hear it oink.

Groaning, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to shower and change. I ate a nutritional breakfast of cold pepperoni pizza and coffee and left for work. I would have said good bye to Jazz, but my flight wasn't until noon today and he leaves for work at seven, so he was gone when I got up.

I was still tired from the party last night and ended up falling asleep in the taxi. I woke up just in time to climb out of the cab and slowly walk up the side walk. I really, really, need more coffee. I shoved the door open and walked over to the Starbucks at the end of the hall. I don't even remember what I ordered, but it sure woke me up.

It wasn't until I got to the plane that I noticed Cindy was missing. Well, not missing, that was taking it a little far, she just wasn't there. I walked over to the pilot and asked him if he'd seen her.

"Nope, haven't seen her yet, but she better get her butt her soon, flight leaves in half an hour."

"Your positive you haven't seen her?'

"She's kind of hard to miss isn't she? Talks a lot, wears bright colors."

"Yeah I know, its just she's usually here by now."

"You talking about Cindy?" the co-pilot said, walking into the cockpit.

"Yeah, you see her?" I asked.

"Yep 'bout five this morning, she was here crazy early. She was heading down to get drink carts, the ones we've got on board are broken. I haven't seen her since, could be she's still down there if you wanna go look for her," he told me plopping down in his seat and sipping his coffee.

"I better, if she's been down there this long. Knowing her she either found someone and is talking their ear off or she fell over and a pile of drink carts fell on top of her," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"If I remember correctly that was you that happened too," the co-pilot, Jesse I think his name is.

"Hey now," I said. "Be nice, or have you forgotten who brings you coffee during the flight?" I laughed at the look on his face, then left to find Cindy. I hurried down the hall, knowing how grumpy the passengers would be if the flight was delayed. It's just like Cindy to get talking to someone and forget what time it is. I opened the door and got a big whiff of something nasty. They really need to clean this place up, it's not sanitary. A slight chill went up my spine as I moved farther into the room, and the door closed behind me with a bang, making me jump. Laughing at myself, I shook my head and kept walking, trying to find Cindy. It was oddly quiet in her for a room that Cindy was in. The squeak of my shoes on the fake tile floor echoed off the walls. My breathing was loud to my own ears and I had to roll my eyes at myself. You'd think I was in a cheesy horror film the way I was acting. Knowing I was acting so crazy didn't make me feel any better though and when I heard a dripping sound and some kind of scuttling noise I freaked out.

I started sweating and I reached over and grabbed a broken cart leg off the top of and old drink cart. Slowly, prepared to hit someone or thing should it come at me, I walked around a pile of old carts. Nothing came at me so I lowered my arm and let out my breath. This time I actually laughed out loud at myself. I really was acting like a spaz, there was obviously no one here but me. Cindy must have already headed back or got caught up talking to someone somewhere else. I turned around to head back and slipped, falling backwards and landing hard on my shoulder, my head hitting the floor with an audible thwack. I groaned for the second time today, this time in pain, and pushed myself up into a sitting position. Rubbing my shoulder I looked around for the perp that made me fall. I felt something wet on my legs and when I looked down I way a deep red liquid seeping into my pant leg from a puddle on the floor.

My breathing stilled as I looked off to the right. I saw the red liquid dripping slowly from a drink cart at my side. It was then that I noticed the scuttling sound had gotten louder, in fact it sounded like it was coming from inside the cart. Hand shaking, I reached over and slowly opened the door to the cart. It didn't squeak or creak or make any sort of sound that would go with this terrifying feeling that was washing over me. No, it just slid silently open at the pressure of my hand and when it did I closed my eyes, afraid of what I might find. It wasn't until I felt something crawling across my leg that my eyes flew open and I saw what was in the cart. I screamed and the world went black.

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A/N Feel free to review, I love critisism


	4. Can't Look Back

**A/N So I know this chapter has been a long time coming and I don't really have an excuse this time, just I'm a lazy writer lol. I write when the feeling hits and I don't write if I don't feel like it you know? Anyway this chapter was particularly strange to write, I have a habit of getting into the mind set of my characters as I write them meaning I feel what they feel and as I write their thoughts I'm actually thinking that way too. Needless to say this chapter was a little taxing on the emotions end of things.**

**I hope you enjoy it!**

**Can't Look Back**

"Careful, Jesse. She knocked her head when she fell, she'll be scared and in pain when she wakes up. The least we can do is make her comfortable." I could hear people talking as I started to come to, but my head was pounding and I couldn't remember why or how. I knew I was at work and I was aware that someone was carrying me, Jesse, according to the other voice. The name sounded familiar, but trying to think up the face it belonged to wasn't working. The image in my head was fuzzy and nondescript, blurred out the way people's faces are on television sometimes. My mind didn't seem capable of pulling up a face to go with the name and even after a few seconds my thoughts began to wander, I couldn't concentrate on one thing for more than a moment. My mind jumped from one thought to the next Jesse, jelly, juicy, jukebox, oldies, old people, wrinkles, moisturizer, water, swimming, drowning, death.

Death, I struggled to hold onto the word, I didn't know why it was so important, but it stood out among the useless ramblings going on in my head. Death, did it have something to do with why my head was throbbing? Did someone try to kill me? No. That didn't sound right. Death, death, death. Was someone dead? Yes that sounds right. But who? An image flooded my mind, just blood everywhere, everything soaked in it seeping across the floor. With the image came a sound, scratching. Had I left the cat outside? No damn it, stay focused; I mentally shook myself.

Scratching. I had been looking for the scratching. Wrong again, I was looking for what made the sound. I found them. Who did I find? Rats, rats made the scratching sound, one had crawled across my hand. My hand that was on the floor. Why the Who did I find? I was on the floor, I fell there while looking for. For what? For Fuck sake . Carts! I was looking for carts. NO, why can't I think of it. Right I was looking for a person a someone not a thing. A someone who was looking for carts? Hmm, I'll get back to that one. No, no, I remember now they were looking for carts for the plane because we're stewardess'. We work at the airport together. Why can't I remember the person who's dead? Come on Brain, work!

I gave up after a few minutes and decided to just listen to the people talking around me and see if anything they said would jog my poor excuse for a memory. So far I was getting jack shit.

"The cops and ambulance are on their way." The first voice said. It was deep and grizzly, not one I recognized.

"I called her brother, Jasper. He was her emergency contact in her phon." Jesse this time, he sounded far away. "He's on his way over too, he'll probably beat the ambulance here he was that freaked out." His voice got louder; he must have moved closer or something.

"Good, I don't want her going to the hospital alone. Not after what happened, she'll be terrified," the first man spoke. I wonder who he is to care so much about me.

"God, I know. I should have gone down instead of sending her, Ian. She's going to blame herself for what happened," Jesse said. Ian? Oh, Ian, the tech guy I went out with a couple of times. I wish they would say who I found. And why did Jesse think I would blame myself? Was I close friends with this person? A blonde haired faceless person in a stewardess uniform floated through my mind, but as soon as I tried to focus in on it, it disappeared. I sighed.

"Shh! I think she's waking up," Ian said, and I felt a hand on my arm. "Becket? Becket, come on back to the real world, hun." I guess my quiet thinking time was up, not that I was getting very far, and it was my fault, I just had to sigh. Groaning, I opened my yes. The florescent lights practically blinded me and I closed my eyes again and turned my head away.

"Oops. Sorry about that." Jesse said. I heard some shuffling and an almost silent click, then Jesse said, "There ya go Becket, lights are off. Should be safe to open your eyes now."

Slowly, I slid my eyes open a crack, when light didn't glare into my eyes I opened them the rest of the way. I wasn't laying down like I thought I was. I was sitting in a seat in someone's office. I didn't know who's and I didn't really care, the world was spinning around me and it was making me nauseous. I leant forward and put my head in my hands, elbows resting on my knees.

"Whoa, you okay there?" Ian said, still holding my arm, why wouldn't he let go?

"Dizzy," I managed to whisper, but shut my mouth as to keep my insides from tumbling out. They seemed to me all jumping around inside. My kidneys, stomach, liver, I briefly wondered if they were having a trampoline party and forgot to invite me, but I quickly pushed that thought away. It was nonsense.

"No wonder," Jesse supplied, "You knocked your head real good when you fell kid."

"Who?" I squeezed out, my need to finish my mismatched, muddled memory coming back to mind and temporarily growing stronger than the nausea.

"Ket?" Jasper's anxious voice filled my ears. He apparently shoved Ian out o the way too because I heard a grunt and a quick 'hey' then Ian's hand was no longer on my arm. "Ket? Sis, are you okay?" he asked, rather loudly, as he grabbed my arms and looked me over, shaking me a little as he did so. My only response was to puke all over his shoes.

"Sorry…" I mumbled, trying not to get sick again. The dizziness wasn't getting any better, in fact it was getting worse. Even with my eyes closed it felt like I was on one of those spinning rides, like the Frisbee at Canobie Lake Park. Yep, eyes closed was not helping, better open them before I hurl again. Right now, slowly. I eased my eyes back open and fixed them on one thing. That's how ice skaters did it right? When they spun around real fast they focused on one spot and it kept them from getting dizzy. Or was that dancers? Anyway I opened my eyes and focused on Jasper's face. So far so good, the world was still spinning, but Jasper was staying still.

"You okay, Ket?" Jasper asked. There was no sign of disgust in his face about the vomit that covered his shoes. He was a good actor. I would have been making all kinds of 'eww' faces and dancing around trying to get it off me. He just nonchalantly slid his shoes off and walked over to stand next to me. His socks were mix matched, rainbow striped right sock with a solid Yellow sock with happy pumpkins on them on the left.

"You're wearing my socks," I whispered, ignoring his question and putting way too much effort into scrutinizing his feet. How did they even fit in my socks? His feet are massive, like too big for his body huge. I started giggling to myself. He could probably walk on water his feet are so huge. It's no wonder he's a fast swimmer, built in flippers. Hmm, I wonder if people see his foot prints in mud and think they are looking at Bigfoot foot prints and turn into fanatics. I practically exploded I started laughing so hard. It hurt my stomach I was laughing so much. I don't know why, but everything was suddenly hilarious. I finally stopped laughing and Jasper tried to help me up off the floor, but I saw his face and started laughing again.

"What the hell is wrong with you Ket?" Jasper said, exasperated.

"She's in shock," someone said. I looked up from where I was on the ground to see a paramedic walking in. He had a black bag and was followed closely by another paramedic. When he got to me he knelt down beside me and pulled a penlight out of the black bag.

"Now I know everything is very funny right now, but I need you to keep still so I can check you out okay?" the first paramedic said, looking me straight in the eye to make sure I heard him. It took everything I had not to burst out in laughter, a few giggles escaped but for the most part I kept it in. He had glasses that kept slipping down his nose. At one point they slipped so far down they were at the tip of his nose. I was so busy concentrating on his glasses that I didn't notice the other paramedic was behind me till she prodded my head.

"Ouch," I said, moving my hand up to hold my head.

"Sorry," she said. "I need to move your hair to get a better look at the bump you got when you fell." Gentler this time, she moved my hair and looked at my head. It hurt a little when she put pressure on it, but other than that I felt better now. My uncontrollable laughter had subsided into quieter, random giggles. As I calmed down what happened slowly came back to me.

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God," I chanted again and again as the memory of the smell, and the blood, and what I had found inside the drink cart crashed down over me. I managed to stay conscious this time, but just barely. The memory of something crawling over my hand was so strong that I actually felt it again. I screamed and shoved myself back into the corner of the room as I watched the events play out in my head. In my memory my hand reached up slowly to open the cart, my eyes open wide, but this time instead of passing out I just stared. Dozens of rats fell out of the cart on to the floor and scattered around the room. My attention shifted to what was left inside the cart. It was bloody and misshapen, covered in hundreds of bite marks where the rats had been eating it. It would have been completely unidentifiable had it not been for the yellow matted mop of what looked to be hair.

It was the tangle web of what used to be flowing, blonde tresses that cause me to realize what it was. It wasn't an it at all, it was a who. That who, was the person I had been looking for earlier. The person who would smile at me every morning, who was at my party laughing with us and talking with us. Cindy. Cindy was dead. No that didn't adequately describe the state I found her in. Beaten, stuffed into a drink cart, and eaten at by dozens of rats. Murdered. My friend had been murdered.

I wrapped my arms around my bent knees, put my head down and sobbed. I must have looked like a lunatic to the people around me, laughing one minute then sobbing uncontrollable the next. I wished like hell someone in the room could read minds because I knew eventually someone would have to ask me what happened, what I saw. I don't think I could handle saying it out loud, it would make it all real and right now it was bad enough dealing with the dream like memory in my head. Someone toughed me, but I shrugged their hand away and pushed farther back into the corner, trying to disappear.

"Becket?" A voice asked. I was half in the memory half in the real world so I couldn't put a face to the voice; I didn't bother answering. What was there to say anyway? It all seemed so stupid and pointless. I heard the conversation going on around me.

"What can I do for her?"

"Nothing right now. She only has a mild concussion so you can bring her home. Give her some aspirin and let her sleep. Just be sure to wake her up every two hours and ask her simple questions like what's your name to make sure she's okay.

"What happens if she can't answer the questions I ask when I wake her up?"

At that point I tuned out the rest of the way. For the moment it was safer in my head. The memory had slowly faded away and a feeling of floating in nothingness took its place. My mind was empty of all thought. I was floating in black oblivion, blissfully unaware of what was transpiring outside my own head. I was vaguely aware that someone had picked me up, but it just added to the feeling of weightlessness in my head. Slowly, but surely I drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Little did I know that this was only the beginning and never again would I experience the bliss of a relaxing dreamless sleep. Soon the horrors of my life would seep into my unconsciousness and awake or asleep I would be completely submerged in night mare.

When I woke it was dark and quiet. I knew I was in my own room before I opened my eyes,

mostly because Jasper had been waking me up periodically through the night to make sure I was coherent. There was a little pain at the back of my head, but the pain meds Jasper had gotten me to take were doing their job. I folded the covers back and slid my legs over the edge of the bed and sat up. I was pleased to find that the room stayed where it belonged. I slipped on my slippers and made my way to the kitchen. At first I was a little worried about going down the stairs, but I went slow and managed to make it without mishap. I flicked on the light in the kitchen and opened the fridge and looked inside. There wasn't much food in there. Sighing, I closed the door and walked to the cabinets; there wasn't much there either. I opened up one of the draws and pulled out our box of recipes. Crepes was the first recipe in there so I pulled it out. We had some strawberries and cream cheese in the fridge so crepes seemed like the perfect thing to make. That and there were fast.

I pulled out all the ingredients and mixed them together. I put the stove on medium, buttered the pan and started cooking. The only problem was once I stated cooking I couldn't stop. By the time Jasper walked into the kitchen I had four tall stacks of crepes.

"What are you doing, Ket?' Jasper asked, starring exasperatedly at all the crepes.

"Cooking," I shrugged. I didn't see the big deal, so I made a lot of crepes; I'd just invite Edward and Emmett over they'd be gone in no time.

"Ket it's four in the morning! How long have you been at this?"

"Not sure, I just got up and I was hungry so I started cooking. But the cooking was fun so I just kept going." I replied, making the last crepe of my most recent batch.

"Becket you need to stop, okay? You're going to run out of ingredients soon." He walked up behind me and wrapped his hands around my wrists. I sighed and put down the measuring cup in my hand and leaned back into him.

"Sorry, Jazz," I said, then stood up and turned around to face him. "You hungry?" I asked glancing over at the crepes.

"Starving," he laughed and grabbed us two plates and cups from the cabinet. I went to the fridge and brought out the strawberries, cream cheese, and orange juice. Jasper brought over one of the plates of crepes and started spreading cream cheese on them. While he was doing that I sliced the strawberries and placed them on as he finished spreading the cream cheese. We kept on with this pattern until we ran out of strawberries, then we sat down, rolled up the crepes and started eating.

Half an hour and twelve crepes each later we leaned back in our chairs stuffed. The table was a mess and there was still three plates of crepes left. I got up and started doing the dishes. Jasper on the other hand got up, patted me on the shoulder and said he was going back to bed.

"That's find Jazz. I'm going to clean up then go over to the grocery store to do some much needed shopping." I smiled at him as he walked away and went back to cleaning.


End file.
